mike-hr

Howdy, I think I met you several years ago, I was doing wrought work on a residence at the Running Y resort, and met a sparky named Mark from the Rogue valley who did a little smithing... Good to see you here. Mike

You want the punch end hard, and the struck end soft. I would normalize a few times, or anneal overnight after re-shaping. Wrap a wet rag around the end you don't want hard, keep squirting the rag with water while heating. use a solid fuel forge and only stick the end you want soft in the fire. When it gets non-magnetic, quench in oil, swirling the whole piece around .After it's quenched, temper. You could put the whole piece in the oven at 450F for an hour for inch of cross section, or use a drift that fits the eye that's heated to red, and watch the colours rise up the punch until the end starts turning blue, then quench in water. Heat rises, so orient the punch up. This works real nice to use two drifts in the fire, so one will be ready as the other cools down.

I needed a quick broach for turning 3/8 round holes into square holes. I ground a square taper in a 3/8 lathe bit, and used a .045" slitting wheel to carve teeth. It worked under the H-press and hand hammer. I used a soft hammer to minimize shrapnel.

I just got back from Kauaii, and scheduled to go again next Xmas, don't know what island you're on, but i'd be happy to get the NTSA wondering what I'm up to when my bag gets x-rayed.

I made a couple pair of vee-bit, gooseneck tongs at a hammer-in 5 years ago, they fit 3/8 and 1/2 inch sq and round, they get used the most around my place.

I posted a couple pics in the gallery of an old hybrid hammer I'm fixing up as time allows. The design of it isn't perfect, it appears there could be some spectacular crashes if you don't unhook the connecting rod from the drive wheel when converting to foot power, and turn the motor on by mistake.. Don't know if you can get any ideas from it, but it's an interesting concept. I tried adding the pictures to this post, but the manage attachments button doesn't seem to work.. the pics are in the gallery however.

I paid about $700 for one of the first Jackson 3-in-one auto-dim hoods when they came out. It can switch to clear, flame cutting, or arc welding. I don't know what they cost now, probably much less. It's pushing ten yrs old, still working great. I'll buy another one when it finally gives up. A good auto-dim hood for arc welding only can be had for $150 or less. Just leave the hood down when production welding, no problems..

Howdy Tom, We get to Lost Wages every once in a while, If I came to your place and played for a half day, I reckon I'd be ahead a couple hundred or so from not wandering among the bright lights.... There's a lot of good folks on this forum to help you get a blister or two.

I think it was one of the first machines used to pack those awful Vienna Sausages and slime product into the can.

If you put the piece in the oven at a set temp,( I would try for more like 450F instead of 540), it won't lose more hardness the longer you leave it in.. What I was taught, is an hour for inch of cross section, at the thickest part. Turn off the oven at the end of the time, and go to sleep. To lose more hardness, increase the Temp, same amount of time, an hour for inch of cross section. More time won't affect it.

When I'm making something and I'm concerned about sticky welds, I preheat the steel to 300F (temp crayon) and stick weld 7018, welding with the piece between 300 and 400F (another temp crayon). When done, I post heat back to 400F and let cool down slow. I was breaking a lot of clapper die springs before I started using this method, they last a long time now.

Thanks Peyton, for starting this discussion here. I filled out the survey last weekend and have started a paragraph for this thread several times. After reading Mr. Boggs' posts, I couldn't come up with anything better. Well stated, I would join ABANA if they instituted a national standards program similar to CBA and made the magazines available at news stands. The general public has to work hard to see what we do, we could do more of what we do if more people knew about it, ABANA has the power to do this.

I make BBQ tools from 304SS sometimes if I'm not feeling frustrated enough by daily life. I agree with the thoughts about narrow working range, but it moves okay if you stay in the temp. window. The other strange thing from my experience, is it doesn't scale much at all, and therefore it's hard to see facets or flat planes while it's yellow hot, meaning it's difficult to work square, octagon, round consistantly.

It's been a little breezy 150 miles inland, too. The old cottonwood tree in my driveway blew over yesterday, just missed the power pole, but no harm done. I never did like that tree, seems like it schedules its fluffy pollen releasing the same time I'm trying to paint a black railing. My semi-efficient coal forge hood is drawing smoke with gusto the last couple days...

I love it! I could make a lot more money production welding or exploiting the portable welding header on my business card, but I feel richer when a customer calls me back almost in tears because of all the soul their house has since I installed my forged product. I did a traditional riveted railing job in an entryway a couple years back. I seem to make something else for the guy every year, recently he told me he's gotten used to company taking 3 steps in the front door, then freezing in place staring at the railing, and wondering how big the guy was that mashed all that steel into that shape...Wealth shouldn't always be described with a dollar sign in the preface.

Nice work Tyler! What's great in this stage of Tyler's work is that nothing's ever been created that looks just like that..I'm for it. What's strange is, a 4# sledge hammer with some snake oil for a finish is worth about $75, and Fem #1 is worth whatever you ask for it! You are doing great in your creative process.. If you need suggestions, I have two.. Take an art class series at your local community college. I'm not saying your piece needs critiqueing, I'm fine with it. If you want to sell a series of these, it might be nice to know why DaVinci and Picasso's works are heralded. The second is Inter-library-loan the big book about David Smith, metal sculptor. I looked at it while at a friends house, don't know the isbn#. He influenced, and was influenced by Picasso. A lot of his stuff looks strange to me, but he was partially responsible for the iron sculpture revival of the 20th century. You may have to schlep your work around to different shows for a while, but someone's going to see it and just have to have it. I have a very utilitarian backgroud in logging and ranching, it's taken me 20 years to start building things that don't keep cows locked in. It's really rewarding (in my mind) to build a piece that doesn't do anything except provoke thought.

You may want to research ribbon burners. John Emmerling saw one in his neighbors glass shop, and has made a dozen or so forges using them. I spent a couple weeks with him earlier this month, it was difficult to not melt steel in his forges. He's written articles for the NWBA, CBA, and ABANA on their construction, I'm going to make one as soon as I can locate a bag of Mizzou castable refractory cement ( I may have to drive to the valley or get some trucked in).

The spikes look pretty good. You've got good hammer control, and a good attitude. Keep it up!

It depends on the client. I do a lot of sub-work for contractor friends, if they tell me to do the best I can for $2000, that's what i do, and get a check upon completion/inspection. Homeowners/New-in-town contractors, I get 50% up front, and the rest upon completion. I charge a lot more for new house construction work, I'd rather not play in that sandbox. There's incredible stress to get done on time, to heck with quality, You have to fight with all the other tradesmen for parking, etc. My tools and product weigh a whole lot more than the alarm guy who's just doing programming today, but he'd rather not move his van, in case he needs another phillips screwdriver. I really enjoy working for young couples who bought a 100 yr old house on the hill and want to do something classy with the new front steps they just had redone. I try to get them involved with design and end up charging less for more work, because it's challenging and fun. There's a couple big contractors in town that are notorius for slow paying.. I bid the jobs at 200%, half up front, half upon completion. I haven't scored anything yet using this method, and that's just fine.

Just got home with a 1964 Hyster 4000# forklift. Gravel parking lot traction tires. Drove it 12 miles down the highway to the house, ran like a top. I've been moving big stuff with prybars and pipes for way too long, my chiropractor is going to have to find someone else to make payments on his boat.. I was going to add a picture, but the manage attachments button doesn't seem to be working. Try to imagine an old yellow forklift sitting in front of a shop, it looks a lot like that.

It's also a good idea to work the opposites of your arm's squeezing muscles, by using several thick rubber bands around the fingers and thumb, and doing expanding exercises..